Thanks, all. I have indeed been doing the main story quests (which lately has meant mostly running Chocobo-related errands) — I guess I need to just stick with them.
Actually the fact that I got impatient to see another city, right around when the MSQ is about to take me to another city, shows remarkably good (or lucky) game design!
Thanks for the other newbie tips, too. I just last night realized that I'd been neglecting the Conjurer quests, and started catching up on those. And I'll be sure to check out the Hall of the Novice when I eventually make it to Limsa Lominsa (which sounds like it may be soon).
[EDIT: And with this post, I apparently have hit my limit of 3/day, making it impossible for me to post in the "Find a Friend" thread today... and making me somewhat regret being nice enough to say thanks. Silly forum post restrictions, mumble grumble...]
[EDIT 2: No, actually, I've only posted twice since December 6th, so I don't know what the heck is going on with being unable to post in that other thread. But this is off-topic, so I'll shut up now.]
[EDIT 3: And now it works. Whatever, I give up trying to understand it.]